Time management is a fine art. I often times amaze myself on how I can pack a million things into my day-to-day routine. I am a professional and as such have long hours at work. My husband and I raise two kids, and if being a parent does not taking enough of my time, add to that being an Olosha (yes, I do have godchildren to attend as well) and a Yaya Nkisi.
Religious obligations take time, the blog takes time and keeping up with my intense curiosity for all things spiritual takes time as well.
For over three years I had been promising myself that I would carve a bit of said precious time to satisfy an intellectual and spiritual desire to learn about Hoodoo and its practices. Having lived in the South of the United States for over two decades and married a man from Louisiana made it natural for me to feel inclined to learn the traditions of the Deep South. But I needed not to marry a descendant from French Cajun folks to fall in love with the mystique of the South. You see, I have always loved Louisiana.
I visited the Big Easy for the first time at the age of 13. It was then I fell in love with its yawning bayous, its hot humid summer nights by the Mississippi and the gentile ways of white, black and creole folks. I came back home to Puerto Rico after a summer vacation with my senses on fire because I had too discovered a world of magic behind the polished façade of fancy hotels and restaurants made to lure and comfort tourists like me. My keen eyes had noticed while walking the streets of New Orleans, curio shops filled with oils and herbs, mojo bags and dried up alligator body parts…it made me think of our botánicas back in Puerto Rico, minus the alligators, that is.
It would be years later for me to learn about Hoodoo and its origins and to fall utterly in love with all it has to offer to the spiritual intellectual and practitioner such as myself. Thanks to my industrious husband, I found a great website with loads of information on Hoodoo and after thinking about it for over two years, yes I am slow to consider becoming someone´s student, I decided to enroll in a correspondent course on Hoodoo. Ms. Cat is my correspondent teacher. I feel she is very resourceful, sharp-witted and extremely devoted to all things Hoodoo, she dedicates a great deal of her time to run her curio shop out of California and to share her knowledge with folks like me.
I started the course on January of 2011, but before I could get my hands on my Hoodoo Rootwork Correspondence Course book, I chewed up through piles of other texts that she has recommended for study on her website. It was very much worth following her recommendations as those lay the foundation to a world of magic, culture and tradition that is a great system on its own.
My nights started to be reshaped. Once homework is completed, dinner has been served and the kitchen tidied, children are in bed and the house has fallen quiet, the time comes to close the day with my habitual spiritual routines, and finally, to come to bed.
Hoodoo nights are my favorite, they are far and few, however, they are filled with intense reading, note taking and with making plans to put into practice over the weekend the lessons learned from the book.
You may still wonder, what exactly is Hoodoo? Find out more in the post to come...
Omimelli
Oní Yemayá Achabgá